Nov. 26, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



8^7 



SAIL PLAN -FOR A SMALL CRUISER. 



also the parrel on the gaff raust both be slackened. One man can 

 readily lower and hoist the mast for briiges, etc. 



The leads of the various lines are as follows; Throat halliards to 

 cleat d on starboard side, peak to oleafc h on same side fo that both 

 can be reached at the same time; staysail halliards on cleat c, jib on 

 cleat a, toppinglift on cleat c on mast, staysail downhaul knotted in 

 hole in coaming: at /. The mainsail is thus set from the starboard 

 and the head sails from the port side of boom, and the downhaul is 

 handy to the staysail halliard. All are easily reached by leaving the 

 tiller for only a moment, and one mnn can manage ail lines. The 

 boat has airtanks in each end. a large cuddy forward, and seats In 

 the cockpit. For cruising the seats would fold out, making a bed for 

 two or even three (4x'i'ft.), while a tent would be pitched over the 

 boom. The yawl rig would answer well for such a boat, hut the 

 present one has proved very satisfactory for singlehanded sailing and 

 cruising. Apropos of these boats it may be' mentioned that Mr. 

 MacWhirter, formerly of Erith, who built both of Mr. Speed's boats, 

 is now settled at West Brighion. Staten Island, where he is engaged 

 in yacht building. 



WIDE OR NARROW CANOES.— Roslyn, L. I., Nov. \).-~Editor 

 Foreat and Stream; Having been for some years a member of the 

 A. C. A., and taking a passive, if not active, interest in canoeing, I 

 would like to ask a question or two and make a suggestion or so on 

 the question of beam. Man^ prominent canoeists have long since 

 deserted the canoe for cruising under sail, and have adopted square 

 stern boats simply because the canoe, as at present limited in width. 

 Is neith r safe, handy nor comfortable for sailing purposes; in short, 

 is about as cranky and dangerous a combination of complications as 

 could well be devised for capsizing. It is time that a note of warning 

 should be sounded, which, if not heeded, will result in debasing 

 legitimate canoe sailing from its enviable distinctiveness to a sort of 

 mongrel sport, without name or position. What possible objection 

 can be made to such an increase of beam as will render the canoe 

 serviceable, as an honest and speedy little sailing craft, quite capable 

 of thrashing the over-estimated sneakbox to windward or free? In 

 view of the above named considerations, I would suggest that about 

 the following proportions be embodied for improving the sailing 

 canoe: Say. length over all, 15ft.; beam. 43 to 48in. ; draft of water. 

 6in. Of course she must be sharp at both ends, not an ounce of 

 ballast should be permitted in racing, and her centerboard ought not 

 to exceed .30 pounds in weight. There is no difHculty ia designing 

 such a boat, absolutely unsinkable without necessity of tanks, light 

 enough for one man to easUy haul out of water, and with steering 

 qualities which will render her as sure and quick in coming about as 

 the sharpie. In order to admit her legitimately into the A. C. A. for 

 racing purposes, it would be well to make two distinct classes of 

 sailing canoes. One class embracing those under 36in, beam, the 

 other including those between -SO and 48in,— Thoma.s Clapham 



REFORMS IN BRITISH OANOEING.-Mr. W. Baden-Poweli writes 

 us that he vvill present at the general meeting of the Royal O, 0. a 

 resolution for the adoption of the rules of the American Tanoe Asso- 

 ciation, together with a limit of sail area, an allowance of water bal- 

 last in cruising trim races, the establishment of a senior class, on Mr. 

 Gibson's plan, the members to take no club prizes, but a silk flag for 

 each race won with any extra prizes. He will also move to abolish 

 deck flaps, on the grounds that they are detrimental in a cruiser and 

 racer. Mr. Powell will cut down his 80-lb. board to the A. O. A. limit. 

 His proposed limit of sail area is 100 and 25ft. for main and mizzen in 

 first class and half as much, 6aft.. for spinnaker. Cruising class, 75ft. 

 total, with 38ft. spinnaker. 



^mwet§ to ^ornB^andmt^. 



No Notice Taken ol Anouymoas Correapondents. 



T. B.— See advertisement of the article elsewhere. 



0. L. O., Jr., Boston.— We cannot tell you what is the cause of the 

 change in color of hair. 



.1. W. H., Owingsville, Ky.— Does the new, plain, edition of "Sport 

 wiih Gun and Rod," advertised in Sportsman's Library column at $5, 

 contain the same matter and illustrations as the finer edition? Ans. 

 Yes. 



N. L., Paterson, N. J.— Please give m.e the dimensions of a hand 

 grasp for a single-handed fly-rod. Ans. From one inch to one and an 

 eighth, the smaller preferred. 



Bahokland, Silver City, Utah.— Please give me the name of the 

 duck of which I inclose the head herewith ? Ans. The head is that of 

 a red-breasted merganser {Mergvs serrator), also called '"sheldrake," 

 ' fish duck." etc. 



SPARROW PIE, 



bjMPLioiTY AND Equitv.— One of the neatest, simplest and moit 

 attractive policy contracts now issued by an insurance company is 

 the new A.ccident Policy of the Travelers Insurance Company of 

 Hartford. Those who have any acquaintance at all with insurance 

 business, or the men engaged in it, know that the complexity and 

 volume of conditions on policies is not due to the wishes of those 

 wbo issue them; that a company would far rather issue a policy 

 with no conditions at all, and that the multiplied provisions and re- 

 strictions on their policies have been gradually forced on them bv 

 the disnonesty of pohcy-holders and the monstrously strained deci 

 sions of the courts. The Travelers has been an unusually seve-e 

 sufferer from this cause, but they have at last determined to make a 

 brave trial, and deserve eqiuty if they cannot receive it. Their new 

 policy is a model of brevity and compactness, the conditions being 

 cut down to not much more than a third of their former volume, and 

 stated m admirably clear and lucid language. The most unlettered 

 man could not hesitate for an instant over the meaning of its con- 

 cise, emphatic and even curt sentences, and it would seem that even 

 a court could hardly find ambiguity in them. They are also very 

 broad and fair; and the fact that the company refuses to pay for in- 

 juries received through violation of law, or in blood-feuds or drunken 

 fights, should only make honest men feel all the more certain of 

 i-eceiving their just claims.— 



pHB St. James Gazette, with no kindly feeling toward 



JL the sparrow, discourses thus: Many things are neces- 

 sary for a sparrow pie; and the chief of these is first to catch 

 your sparrows. The sparrow likes best the neighborhood of 

 rick yards ; and the artfulness and dexterity with which he 

 will hang by his feet, throw the whole weight of his little 

 body on to an ear of wheat, and carry it off, is one of the things 

 that are rarely observed though they are well worth observing. 

 Naturally they are as unpopular with the farmer as is the- 

 bam rat; and the sparrow catcher, like the rat catcher, comes 

 from the town to exterminate him— being paid, like the wolf 

 catcher of old times, by the number of heads delivered. Spar- 

 rows are much too artful for any trap. It is almost idle to 

 set nooses or lay clap nets for these birds. The sparrow 

 catcher s method is known as bat- fowling. For bat-fowhng 

 four sportsmen are the proper number. One of these carries 

 a long stick, with which he beats the ivy or the sides of the 

 rick and so starts the game. The second bears a lantern at 

 the end of a pole, toward the light of which the birds fly 

 when suddenly aroused from sleep. ITie other two hold, and 

 rattle close against the roosting haunt of the birds a wide- 

 mouthed net, made like a shrimping net but considerably 

 larger: and into this the sparrows dash, bewildered by the 

 noise and dasizled by the light. Sparrow catchers need no 

 license, their gear is cheap, and sparrows in good condition 

 command a very fair price. As the spart-ow catcher is paid 

 by the head, or rather the dozen of heads, you will never find 

 the head of a sparrow in a town ptidding. 



When the sparrow reaches the London market guile com- 

 mences. His head is gone already ; his feet are now removed, 

 and he does duty for the lark at many a London restaurant 

 and hotel (indeed in the best of these the lark makes his 

 appearance on your plat« with his feet on, so that the long 

 claws may establish his identity). Were we willing to call 

 thing.s by their right nam_es, this deception would be unneces- 

 sary. A corn -fed sparrow dilfers as widely from, an insectiv- 

 orous lark as does a Norfolk tui-key from a Scotch capercailzie, 

 l^acn IS excellent in its way; but they no more resemble each 

 ot^ei' fclian does the genume red venison the park -fed fallow 

 deer. Those who have merely looked at the vignettes in 

 Yarrell can distinguish in a moment between the breastbone of 

 the lark and that of the spaiTow, Some sceptics declare that 

 boned larks served as alouettes en caisse are nine times out of 

 ten simply sparrows, the whiteness of whose flesh is concealed 

 by highly colored gravy. 



But there are other ways of cooking a sparrow than to boil 

 them with beefsteak under crust ; and in every way he repays 

 the trouble of the cook. RoU a piece of bacon over his breast 

 (not too large a piece), toast him in a Dutch oven, and so 

 serve him hot. Schoolboys know this, although they are often 

 obliged to dispense with the bacon. O, "another way." 



Curry a dozen sparrows and serve them with the proper 

 gravy in a rampart of rice. In fact, w^hen you have once 

 understood how dainty a bird a well-fed sparrow is, a dozen 

 worthy modes of presenting him at table will occur to you. 

 Has not a book been written detailing a hundred methods of 

 cooking the potato? 



One way may be recotnmended as excellent. Cut enoush 

 off the end of a large potato to enable you to scoop a recept- 

 acle for your sparrow. Place him therein, as Izaak Walton 

 said, "tenderly," with appropriate adjuncts to your taste. 

 Lute on the head of your potato again with flour and water. 

 Use your judgment as to time of serving, and this baked potato 

 will astonish your guest. Nor need the humanitarian be 

 aggrieved at all this good advice, nor argue about the number 

 of lives that have to be sacrificed for a single pudding. The 

 sparrow is not easy of extermination, as the good people of 

 Australia have discovered. You might as well talk of over- 

 shrimping Pegwell bay as of overbatfowling English i-ick- 

 yards. Nor has the sparrow, like the quail, to be kept in a 

 dungeon and stufted with millet until he is quite uncomfor- 

 table. Scholars of the Paul Rondolet type, should thev be 

 disposed to think of Lesbia's sparrow, and therefore hesitate 

 as to a sparrow pudding, may take comfort from the thought 

 that the pet of Lesbia was certainly not our own Passer do- 

 tnesticus, inasmuch as it used to flutter round her head, pick 

 playfully at her finger, and twitter a welcome to her. The 

 bird in question was probably a goldfinch, a redpoll or siskin. 

 The Romans applied the term passer to all small birds indis- 

 criminately. Anyhow, there is very little of romance about 

 a weU-fed cock sparrow captured during his winter season 

 among the corn ricks. 



POT LUCK FROM EXCHANGES. 



Mr. Len Piles, a citizen of Sullivan county, Ind., is the 

 owner of a mad-stone. It is gray in color, full of pores, and 

 almost as light as a piece of paper. It is a genuine mad-stone, 

 and Mr. Piles keeps it wrapped in a piece of soft cloth. It 

 was brought to the United States from Ireland many scores 

 of years ago by Mr. Piles's ancestors. Great care lias been 

 taken of it, and it has been handed down from generation to 

 generation. It is valued at «400, Over 1,000 applications 

 have been made by it, 



"Lord Tweedmotith," says London Truth, "was recently 

 obliged to surrender to the notorious Mr. Winans the remain- 

 der of his lease of the Glenafferie shootings (in Scotland) be- 

 longing to the Chisholm. No sooner had the grounds been 

 transferred than Mr. Winans commenced to erect high fences 

 with the object of cutting oft" all communication with, 

 various bridges which Lord Tweedmouth had built in order to 

 facilitate access to the high road. Mr. Winans seems to be a 

 person of extraordinary effrontery, and he requires a sharp 

 lesson ; but he has conceived an entirely erroneous impression 

 of his power if he supposes that he can stop up bridges and 

 claim the exclusive right to roads and paths which have been 

 freely used by the public for centuries. His stupid arrogance 

 has excited keen indignation in the Highlands." 



The Lumberman's Gazette says: "The lumber business as at 

 present conducted, is to a great extent a speculative under- 

 taking. Fortunes can he made almost as rapidly as in for- 

 tunate speculating in Wall street, or lucky strikes in gold min- 

 ing. Men who were mill laborers ten and fifteen years ago 

 have retired with princely fortunes or remain in the trade to 

 become millionaires over and over. None of them has thought 

 of creating a great industrial establishment to be handed 

 down to his family to the third and forth generations. The 

 thought of obtaining vast landed estates, the timber of which 

 should be prudently harvested and make a perpetual som-ce 

 of revenue to the latest generation, has not "entered into the 

 thought of the lumbermen." With here and there an honor- 

 able exception these plain words probably tell the exact truth 

 about the spirit and aiims of om- "pine barons."— W. Powell 

 m Examiner, 



